Book Review Corner: The Other Side of Tomorrow

Today's pick is The Other Side of Tomorrow by Tina M. Cho. This is a graphic novel that is written in verse. (I'm a sucker for verse novels.)

I would give this read 3.75 stars.

This story follows the journey of two children, Yunho and Myunghee, attempting to escape North Korea.

The premise intrigued me, since I know so little about North Korea. (Despite how much I enjoy watching Crash Landing on You for the side romance of Seo Dan and Gu Seung-jun /Albert --I still imagine a different ending for them-- I don't know how accurate the show is in its portrayal of North Korea.) So, I decided to read this to gain a little more insight.

It was good. Sad, but that is to be expected for this storyline. I did not love this book, but I thought it was good. It was interesting to watch their journey as they crossed out of North Korea, through China, into Laos, and into Thailand before embarking to their final destination. I feel like the trials they went through in escaping were believable, and I really felt for the characters.

The artwork was beautiful, and I thought the illustrator did an excellent job capturing the emotions.

I saw other reviews that disliked the use of verse in the novel, but I didn't mind it. I thought it worked for the story. However, I feel like the choice of font and font size made it a little difficult at times to read.

All in all, I think it's a good story to introduce to older elementary school students and middle grade students. It's not as heavy as other books on these types of topics, yet it does capture the hardships that some children do have to experience.

(I will also be posting this on Goodreads.)